Please read these guidance notes carefully before you fill in the forms. All relevant guidance documents can be found on our website. This guidance will help you complete part B2 of the application form pack.

Where you see the term ‘document reference’ on the form, give the document references and send the documents with the application form when you’ve completed it. If you submit documents that are not required, please note that they are not assessed.

How to contact us: If you need help filling in this form, please contact the person who sent it to you or contact us by: General phone enquiries: 0300 065 3000 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm). Email: enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk / ymholiadau@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk Website: www.naturalresources.wales / www.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru

Where to send your application: You can send your application by email or in the post. We can process applications more quickly, if we receive them by email (electronically). Send your completed application form to: Email: permitreceiptcentre@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk / canolfanderbyntrwyddedau@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk Post: Permit Receipt Centre, Natural Resources Wales, Cambria House, 29 Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 0TP Canolfan Derbyn Trwyddedau, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru, Ty Cambria, 29 Heol Casnewydd, Caerdydd, CF24 0TP

Contents 1 About the permit 2 About the site 3 Your ability as an operator 4 General information 5 Planning status 6 Your ability as an operator Appendix 1 – Low impact installation checklist Appendix 2 – Waste management plan checklist for standard permit applications for mining waste operations

1 About the permit

1a Discussions before your application

If you have had discussions with us before your application was submitted tell us the case reference or give details on a separate sheet and tell us the reference you have given the document. We will then be able to refer back to the information you’ve already given us, which will help us to determine your application.

Further guidance on pre-application discussion is available by calling us on 0300 065 3000 or email enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk.

1b Is the permit for a site or for a mobile plant?

Tell us if you are applying for a permit for a site or for mobile plant. Then follow the directions to the next question you must fill in.

If you are applying for a permit for a mobile plant, please discuss it with us before filling in this form.

Note mobile plant does not include mobile sheep dips.

You should also look on our website for further guidance and the deployment form that you need to fill in each time the mobile plant is deployed for use.

2 About the site and activity/ activities

2a What is the site name, address, postcode and national grid reference?

The ‘site’ means all the land the facility occupies. This section does not apply to a mobile plant. Give the site name and address.

Grid reference Provide the 12 character Ordnance Survey national grid reference for the centre of the site; for example, ST 12345 67890.

To find out the 12 digit grid reference you can search on the UK Grid Reference Finder website: http://www.gridreferencefinder.com/

2c What is the regulated facility type for the site (if only one)?

If your application is for only one activity then you only need to fill in this section. Tell us what type of regulated facility it is.

Definitions

The following section is intended to give helpful explanations of some of the important terms used in the Environmental Permitting Regulations. You may also need to read Regulatory Guidance Note 2 which can be found on our guidance webpages. For the full statutory definitions you will always need to return to the Regulations.

Regulated facility is a collective term used to describe all the different kinds of operations that require a permit under the Regulations. This means that there are a number of different types of operations covered by the term. Using ‘regulated facility’ in the Regulations allows a shorthand way of applying requirements to all the categories of operation that need a permit.

The types of operation that are covered by the ‘regulated facility’ collective term covered in this application form pack are:

- an installation
- a mobile plant
- a waste operation
- mining waste operation;
- water discharge activity
- groundwater activity

When the Regulations say ‘regulated facilities/facility’ they mean any or all of the above.

Exempt facility or excluded waste operation is not a regulated facility.

Waste operation: a waste recovery or disposal operation. Each individual operation with an R or D number is a waste operation and each is a regulated facility. When the Regulations use the term ‘waste operation’ this includes waste operations carried on within an installation.

Waste operation not carried on at an installation is a term used occasionally in the Regulations. This will include all the ex waste management licensing (WML) operations.

Tier 2 charged bespoke activity is a waste facility that is not a fixed condition licence or a standard facility. Although it meets most of the criteria of standard rules, the location requires a small level of extra assessment. See charging guidance for more details.

Relevant waste operation covers all ex WML operations plus those waste operations carried out as or within installations that used to be categorised as Specified Waste Management Activities under PPC. This is mainly those in Sections 5.2 to 5.4 of Schedule 1 of the Regulations. It does not include Section 5.1 incinerators or ancillary waste operations such as the use of waste fuel. The only occasion on which this term is used in the Regulations is in the application of the prior planning requirement. It is also used in the Government Core Guidance on environmental permitting, for the application of policy on approved technical competence schemes.

Installation is a combination of related Schedule 1 activities and directly associated activities (DAAs) carried out on one site and the term includes part of an installation.

Activity is an activity listed in Part 2 of Schedule 1.

Directly associated activity is a non-Schedule 1 activity that is directly associated with a Schedule 1 Activity.

Standard facility is a regulated facility described in standard rules published under regulation 26(5).

Standard rules become conditions of a permit for a type of standard facility when the operator of such a facility requests this under regulation 27(2).

Mobile plant is the generic term applying to a mobile plant which is used to carry on either a Part B activity or a waste operation. In practice, the definition applies quite differently to the two types of plant.

Waste mobile plant is the sub set of mobile plant that are used to carry out waste operations. Mining waste operation is the management of extractive waste, excluding the activities in Part 2(2)(c) of the Mining Waste Directive.

Mining waste facility is a type of mining waste operation defined in the Mining Waste Directive.

Standalone water discharge or groundwater activity is a water discharge or groundwater activity which is not carried on as part of the operation of any other regulated facility (e.g. it is not part of an installation, waste operation or mining waste operation). Generally, these activities will have been the subject of a water discharge consent or groundwater authorisation (now called an environmental permit). However, some water discharges subject to a water discharge consent may in fact be ‘carried on as part of the operation of a waste operation’ and these will not be standalone water discharge activities.

Other water discharges subject to a water discharge consent may in fact be ‘carried on as part of a mining waste operation’ and these will also not be stand-alone water discharge activities.

Grid reference

For all standard permit applications, except Water Discharge Activities, provide the 12 character Ordnance Survey national grid reference for the centre of the site, for example, AB 12340 56780.

For water discharge activity standard permits only, provide the 12 character Ordnance Survey national grid reference where the effluent discharges from the outlet to the receiving surface water.

2d If you are applying for more than one regulated facility on your site, what are their types and their grid references?

There is space here for two facilities if you have more use a separate sheet and send it to us with your application form. Tell us the reference you have given the document.

2e Low impact installations

This applies to lower risk Schedule 1 activities only. If you answer ‘no’ go straight to question 2e on this application form.

You can read the low impact installation guidance in appendix 1 to see if any of your installations fit the conditions. If they do, tick ‘yes’ and tell us how you meet the conditions in a separate document, giving the document reference in this section.

You must also complete the low impact installation checklist in appendix 1. Tick the box to confirm that it has been filled in.

3 About this application

3a Standard facilities

We have produced sets of standard rules and have made an assessment of the risk from each of them, which can be downloaded from our guidance webpages. You can apply to have a standard permit that has one or more of these standard rules.

You should first look at the rules and generic risk assessment to make sure that your proposals can meet the rules and fit within the assessment. Standard facilities do not require any additional assessment of risk.

Select the rule set or sets you want to apply for. Once the permit is issued the rules cannot be appealed since applying for a permit subject to the rules is voluntary.

3b Mining waste operation

If you are applying for a standard permit for a mining waste operation you also need to complete the waste management plan checklist in appendix 2.

3d Deposit for recovery purposes

If you are applying for a waste recovery activity involving the permanent deposit of waste on land for construction or land reclamation you must fill in this question. You must provide us with a copy of your waste recovery plan that complies with Regulatory Guidance Note 13, highlighting any changes made since pre-application discussions and tell us the reference number you have given the document.

Before applying for a permit to deposit waste on land you should refer to our guidance (RGN 13) which will help you decide whether the proposed activity is recovery or disposal. You should prepare your case and then present it to us before you submit your permit application. We will endeavour to advise you whether we think your proposal is recovery or disposal within 14 days from the date we receive the information. We will contact you if the decision is likely to take significantly longer, and advise you when a response will be provided.

When you are aware of the decision, you will be able to apply for the appropriate permit. We will check your application against any pre-application advice that we gave you. We may refuse the application if we disagree with the application made. You will have a statutory right of appeal of this decision to the Planning Inspectorate. It is very much in your interests to agree with us first that your proposal is waste recovery before applying for a recovery permit.

Further guidance on deposit for recovery can be downloaded from our guidance webpages.

3e SR 2010Nos 2 or 3 Discharges to surface water

Give a date when you want the permit for this effluent to start.

You cannot discharge your effluent prior to the start date on your permit. Charges will start on this date. We recommend that you do not apply more than 12 weeks ahead of when the permit is needed unless you accept payment of these charges before the discharge date.

Your proposed activity must be able to meet the standard rules and risk criteria that you are applying for. We recommend that you contact us before submitting your application to check that you can meet the nature conservation risk criteria. You can do this by emailing us at: enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk / ymholiadau@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk.

Please include:

- contact name
- number
- contact email
- site address
- six-figure grid reference for site of discharge
- name of standard rules permit.

If you are applying for Standard rules SR2010 No 3 you must use ‘Flows and Loads 3 – Sizing Criteria, Treatment Capacity for Small Wastewater Treatment Systems (Package Plants)’ published by British Water (ISBN: 978-1-903481-10-3) to calculate their maximum daily discharge volume.

4 Supporting information (not for mobile plant applications)

4a Provide a plan or plans for the site

You must send us a site plan that identifies all of the land on which your activities or waste operations, or mining waste operations, including mining waste facilities (both or all), will take place. The site plan should provide a date and a reference and must be drawn accurately to a defined scale. The outline of the site must be clearly marked in green. It will be helpful if local features are shown on the plan to help us place the site in its local environment.

Please note that if you are applying for a permit for a site based standard facility, there will be specific restrictions within the standard rules on where the permitted activities can be carried out, such as proximity to nature conservation sites or residential properties and workplaces. The site plan should provide a date and a reference and must be drawn accurately to a defined scale.

The outline of the site must be clearly marked in green. It will be helpful if local features are shown on the plan to help us place the site in its local environment.

We will treat the site boundary as the boundary of the activities unless there is a defined area within this on the site plan which clearly shows where the permitted activities are to take place. This may be important to you if your proposed activities only occupy a small portion of a larger site.

For water discharge activity standard permits your site plan must show the facility and the outlet location where the effluent is discharged to the receiving water. For a package sewage treatment plant the site plan must show the extent of the treatment plant, the outfall pipe and the discharge location, not the properties served by the plant. The outline of the plan must be clearly marked in green.

If you are sending us a paper copy of your site plan it must be either A3 or A4 size. Alternatively you can send us an electronic copy on CD. For an example of a suitable plan see above.

Copyright issue

Please note that some plans and maps will have copyright issues. Unless you are using your own maps or plans or have paid for the copyright (for example with Ordnance Survey) you may not have the right to reproduce the map or plan.

4b Provide the relevant sections of a site condition report if this applies

For installations standard rules permits you must provide us with a site condition report.

4c Standard permits for IED installations

If you are applying for a standard permit for an IED installation (SR2012 Nos 4, 8, 9, 11 and 13), tick the box to confirm that you have sent in a baseline report.

Site protection must be addressed throughout the life of an environmental permit, so if contamination is caused it must be dealt with quickly and effectively.

To surrender the permit you will need to be able to show that the site has been returned to a satisfactory state. In order to achieve this you will produce a Site Condition Record (SCR), which describes the condition of the site. It should identify any substance in, on or under the land that may constitute a pollution risk. The first part of this will be created at the permit application stage and it will then be updated and added to throughout the life of the permit. The SCR would then be completed and submitted in support of an application to surrender.

You must provide us with a Site Condition Report with sections 1 to 3 completed with your application. You must also send us a detailed site plan (or plans) showing:

- site location, the area covered by the site condition record, and the location and nature of the activities and/or waste facilities on the site;
- locations of receptors, sources of emissions/releases, and monitoring points;
- site drainage; and
- site surfacing.

The Site Condition Report guidance and template can be downloaded from our guidance webpages or you can get them by calling 0300 065 3000.

For waste standard rules permits, including those stemming from complex exemptions and conversions of pre-1994 waste management licences, it is recommended that you produce a site report, i.e. a desktop assessment as the first part of the SCR, after the permit is issued. 5 Your ability as an operator

When determining your application we must consider whether you will be a competent operator. We look at your technical ability and whether you have been convicted of a relevant offence. A relevant offence is one relating to the environment or environmental regulation. We also check to see if you have been declared bankrupt or insolvent and can check your financial standing by way of a credit check. We also check that you have a management system.

5a Relevant offences (installations and waste operations only)

Relevant people

Relevant people for these checks mean each applicant, and in the case of a company, a director, manager, company secretary or any similar officer or employee. In the case of a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), it includes any partner. It also includes any person who has held a position in a company or LLP when it was convicted of a relevant offence.

Relevant offences

You must tell us if any of the relevant people or the company itself in your application have been convicted of a relevant offence.

A relevant offence is one relating to the environment or environmental regulation. A list of relevant offences can be found in the relevant offences guidance.

If any of the relevant people in your application have been convicted of an offence you must look at our relevant offences guidance. This will help you complete this section and any extra information about the offence that you feel we should take into account.

Copies of the relevant offences guidance note can be downloaded from our guidance webpages or you can get them by calling 0300 065 3000.

5b Technical ability (relevant waste operations only)

We need to be satisfied that you will have sufficient technical ability to operate your facility. Your management system should include information about how you will assess, develop and maintain technical ability.

You must have appropriate technical management in place before we can issue your permit. You need to give us details of each person who will provide technical management at your facility.

Unless you are applying to operate a ‘relevant waste operation’ you will not be required to provide evidence that you have a ‘relevant qualification’ from one of the waste industry based schemes. Note: SRP 2009 No4 Combustion of biogas in engines at a sewage treatment works is not a relevant waste operation.

For relevant waste operations, they must have a relevant qualification from one of the following industry schemes:

- Chartered Institute of Wastes Management/Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board (CIWM/WAMITAB) scheme; or
- Environmental Services Association/Energy and Utility Skills (ESA/EU skills) scheme.

Contact the industry schemes for more information.

For the CIWM/WAMITAB scheme, email either education@ciwm.co.uk or info.admin@wamitab.org.uk.

For the ESA/EU skills scheme, email enquiries@euskills.co.uk.

Alternatively you can give us details of any relevant people who already hold a COTC issued by WAMITAB if it is relevant to your waste operation.

You must send us evidence of these qualifications. If you do not have a relevant qualification you may be able to gain this while your application is being processed.

Guidance about operator competence (Regulatory Guidance Series EPR 5) can be downloaded from our guidance webpages or you can get them by calling 0300 065 3000.

5c Finances (installations, waste operations and mining waste operations only)

You will need to provide details of any insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings against the applicant or any relevant person.

We may also want to contact a credit reference agency to verify your financial standing. You are giving your consent to this check by completing and submitting the application form. 5d Management systems (all)

You must have an effective, written management system in place by the time the permit is issued that identifies and reduces the risk of pollution. You may show this by using a certified scheme or your own system.

Your permit requires you (as the operator) to ensure that you manage and operate your activities in accordance with a written management system.

Please note that we expect that your management system will be in place by the time of the permit issue as it will be part of the first inspection of your site.

You can find guidance on management systems in both ‘How to Comply’ and ‘Horizontal guidance Note 6 Environmental management systems’. We have also developed environmental management toolkits for some business sectors which you can use to produce your own management system. You can get these by calling 0300 065 3000 or by downloading them from our guidance webpages.

Appendix 1 – Low impact installation checklist

If you completed question 2e, low impact installations, you must also complete this checklist.

Guidance for applicants on low impact installations

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) requires us to permit all installations regardless of their potential for environmental harm.

Consequently we have developed the Low Impact Installation (LII) permit. If the criteria for LII are met, then a simpler permitting approach is adopted but all other aspects of the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) still apply. LII sites are expected to require minimal regulatory effort by our staff.

Such reduction in regulatory effort can be reflected in lower application and subsistence charges for operators. The criteria for qualification as low impact remain deliberately demanding, as they are not designed to circumvent the purposes of the IED Directive or the EP Regulations that implement them.

Apart from pet cemeteries and the simple storage of waste (e.g. lockable asbestos skips), we do not consider the following waste activities under Schedule 1 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations to be eligible for the low impact approach:

- Section 5.1 – Incineration and co-incineration of waste;
- Section 5.2 – Disposal of waste by landfill;
- Section 5.3 – Disposal of waste other than by incineration or landfill;
- Section 5.4 – Recovery of waste.

Requirements on the operator

If you are able to comply with this guidance you may pay the lower fees, as set out in our charges scheme, but you must first demonstrate to us that your installation can have only a low impact on the environment through your application for a permit. We will check that the application is duly made and meets the criteria set out in this guidance. If we do not agree that the installation meets these criteria, we will not proceed to determine the application. Your application will be returned and you will be advised to submit a full application for a bespoke permit.

An application for a permit must address all of the matters set out in the guidance on applications for an environmental permit, in sufficient detail to allow us to determine it, even if you believe that you are likely to satisfy the LII criteria. You must show through your application that your installation meets each of the conditions set out below. The application might not have to be as detailed as that required for installations that do not meet these criteria. However, it will still need to be made in the proper manner, advertised and entered on the Public Register in the usual way. In coming to our view, we will consider any comments that we receive about the application as part of the consultation process.

The permit that we issue to an operator of a LII will contain conditions that meet the requirements of the Environmental Permitting Regulations. The permit will also aim to ensure that an installation is operated in such a way that all appropriate measures are taken to avoid pollution, in particular through the application of best available techniques (BAT), and achieving a high level of protection of the environment as a whole. The operator will be required to report each year that the installation is still running as set out in the application and certify that actual releases remain below the levels set out in this guidance.

Determination of low impact installations We will determine what constitutes a low impact installation according to the principles set out below. You must demonstrate to our satisfaction that such is the nature of the installation, there is no reasonable likelihood that you will fail to meet any of these conditions.

Management techniques: All of the criteria described below must be met without having to rely on significant management effort.

In other words, the installation intrinsically must have only a low environmental impact, including under start up, shut down, or abnormal operating conditions.

Aqueous waste: The installation must not release more than 50 m³ per day of water from process activities conducted at the installation giving rise to effluent. No account need be taken of the volume of water exported from the installation as product.

Characterise and quantify any aqueous effluents released from the installation on a daily basis and provide justification that the installation releases no more than 50 m³ per day of water from process activities.

Abatement systems/releases to air: The installation must comply with the criteria in this guidance without having to rely on active abatement for releases to the environment outside of any buildings. Releases must not be dependent on continuing or correct operation of equipment, where failure of active pollution prevention systems could result in an unacceptable external release. For example, if the installation depends on active abatement in the form of scrubbers, filters or electrostatic precipitators to achieve the releases to the environment set out in this guidance, it is unlikely that it can be treated as having only a low potential for impact. However, abatement systems installed solely for the protection of workers (where abatement is not to attenuate external environmental releases) need not be included in this assessment.

Groundwater regulations: There must be no planned or fugitive emission from the permitted installation into the ground, or any soakaway. This does not preclude the discharge of clean rain water run-off into soakaways. Pet cemeteries may be exempt from this criterion provided certain specified conditions are met:

- the landfill is not within a Groundwater Source Protection Zone 1 or 2;
- there is a minimum of one metre unsaturated zone between the bottom of the buried carcass or cremated remains and the groundwater table;
- there is a minimum of one metre of soil between the carcass and the surface; and
- burial density shall not exceed 20 kg of carcass or cremated remains per m².

Pet cemeteries fall within the Directive definition of ‘landfill’ and are landfills for non-hazardous waste. This interpretation has been confirmed by Defra. Where pet crematoria dispose of their ash on site, that activity will also constitute a landfill for non-hazardous waste.

Waste production: The installation must not give rise to more than one tonne of Directive waste or 10 kg of hazardous waste per day, averaged over a year, with not more than 20 tonnes of Directive waste or 200 kg of hazardous waste being released in any one day. For the purpose of this application, no information is required on the proposed recovery and disposal of waste streams arising from the installation.

Energy consumption: The installation must not consume energy at a rate greater than 3 MW or, if the installation uses a combined heat and power installation to supply any internal process heat, 10 MW. These limits apply to the sum of energy imported as electricity and produced on site through the combustion of fuels.

Accident prevention: You must have in place satisfactory containment measures to prevent fugitive emissions to surface water, sewer or land and ensure that these are adequately maintained at all times. This requirement applies to all substances present on site and in any quantity.

Noise: There must be only a low potential for causing offence due to noise. An installation will not be considered as a low impact installation if it may give rise to noise noticeable outside the installation boundary. This requires the exercise of judgement, taking account of any history of noise complaint arising from the installation and consideration of the likely off site noise levels and proximity of sensitive receptors. Describe the main sources of noise from the installation, the nearest noise sensitive locations and any relevant noise measurement surveys which have been undertaken; and the proposed techniques and measures for the control of noise. Provide justification that there is only a low potential for offence due to noise.

Emissions of polluting substances: Justify that there will be no likelihood of a release to the environment of any particular substance from the whole installation at a rate greater than that determined as insignificant as set out in our guidance note ‘How to comply’ and ‘H1 Environmental Assessment’.

Describe the nature, quantities and sources of foreseeable emissions from the installation.

Odour: There must be only a low potential for giving offence due to odour. An installation will not be considered as a low impact installation if it may give rise to an offensive smell noticeable outside the installation boundary. This requires the exercise of judgement, taking account of any history of odour complaint from the installation and whether this class of activity is known by experience to give rise to smells. A significant possibility or actual history of excursions or fugitive emissions, for example, from stored materials, would suggest that the installation could not be treated as having a low impact. Provide details of potential sources of odour from the installation, for example from stored materials, and justify that there is only a low potential for offence due to odour.

Compliance history: If any of the following enforcement actions have taken place at the same installation under the same management (and where appropriate, have not been overturned on appeal), then it will not normally be considered further as a low impact installation:

- prosecution;\*
- formal caution;\*
- suspension notice;\*
- enforcement notice relating to an actual or potential environment incident.\*

* (All under EPR or the equivalent under previous environmental regimes).

**Appendix 2 – Waste management plan checklist for standard permit applications for mining waste operations**

Complete the checklist and refer to the technical guidance note for mining waste operations which can be downloaded from our guidance webpages.